2024 Summer Bucket List: Bunny Terry

Bunny : (00:00)
Hi there. I’m Bunny Terry, and you’re listening to the I Love New Mexico podcast. Whether you’re a native new Mexican, who’s lived here for your entire life, or you’re just considering a visit, this episode is for you. Join us as we share a lot of New Mexico stories, talk about all things New Mexico, and include topics like what’s magical here, where you ought to visit, what’s happening, and the things you absolutely cannot miss in the land of Enchantment. We’re excited that you’re here, and we can’t wait to show you what an amazing place New Mexico is, because let’s face it, I love New Mexico

Bunny : (00:49)
Today on the I Love New Mexico podcast. We are going to talk about a summer event, bucket list for New Mexico. I had, I had so much fun going through, um, various, um, towns and cities, calendar of events online to see what might be going on. I, I picked up the latest couple of copies of New Mexico Magazine, which by the way, if you are not a subscriber, we’ll provide a link in our show notes to New Mexico Magazine. But it’s one of the best places to get not only, um, information on events, but history, art, food. Um, if you’re a fan of New Mexico, you ought to be subscribing to New Mexico Magazine. And what I found in my searches is that there’s a lot going on, and whether you’re in the northwest corner of the state, um, in San Juan County near up near Farmington, or in the southern part of the state in Las Cruces, silver City, Alamogordo, um, in the Rio Grande Valley, which is, you know, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Berlin, those places, um, or up in the northeastern corny corner of the state, Taos Red River, angel Fire, um, there is something happening every single day in the state of New Mexico.

Bunny : (02:12)
And so obviously I’m not gonna be able to cover everything, but I did pick up some of the highlights and, um, I just hope this peaks your curiosity. If you’re not coming to New Mexico to visit this summer, um, maybe you should change your mind because there is some cool stuff going on. And I also found that there are lots of places that have events that are ongoing. Um, one of the coolest things I found, which makes me want to go there on a weekday night is that every Tuesday in Las Cruces from seven to nine, um, they’re doing, I’m sorry, from seven to 10 on Tuesday evenings, they have swing lessons, um, downtown on the plaza. Um, every Tuesday night they have swing lessons from seven to eight, and then they have swing dancing from eight to 10. And I, I, those of you who know me, know that I love Las Cruces. I went to college there. And, um, the weather is almost always perfect. It’s a friendly town. The food is the best in the, I I’m not gonna say the best in the state, but it’s different. Um, it’s, um, a kind of new Mexican food that I’m always craving. Lots of green chili, lots of green chili with pork. And, and speaking of food, um, on June 20th in Las Cruces from six to nine, they’re hosting something called The Taste of Las Cruces, which is a benefit. Is, that is held at the convention center that helps raise money for their local food bank. But this taste of Las Cruces held on June 20th from six to nine is a it there, it commemorates the taste of Las Cruces, and it’s the 16th annual event where local eateries come together at the conventions center for one night in one location, and it brings people and food together. It’s for a worthwhile cause. It’s spearheaded by the local Rotary Club. So if you’re like me and you love the food in the southern part of New Mexico, I think you’re gonna wanna check this out. There is a website where you can check out the event, and we’re gonna have a link to it, but it’s also at Casa de Peregrino, that’s C-A-S-A-D-E-P-E-R-E-G-R-I-N-O s.org. And while you’re in the south part of the state, um, here’s, here’s another thing that’s always been on my bucket list. I’ve never done it, but White Sands, the 234 square miles of white gypsum sands, which those of you who know White Sands know what a spectacular setting it is, three nights this summer, they’re going to have, um, what they call, um, moonlight hikes. And they are, um, offered once a month during a full moon event at White Sands. And the, the website says, have you ever wanted to hike the dunes under the moonlight?

Bunny : (05:27)
This is your chance. So the Moonlight hikes at White Sands are on June 22nd, July 20th, and August 20th. You have to get tickets, tickets, tickets are required for this program. And we’ve put a link on the, in the show notes, the, the website for getting tickets for Moonlight hikes at White Sands is recreation.gov, or you can call ’em, the number is (877) 444-6777. That’s a pretty easy number to remember. You have to pay some tour fees, but because there’s a limited number of tickets, this is a really, really it’s a, a really, um, exciting event. And there’s limited space, so you could only purchase six tickets per reservation. There’s not a wait list. So I’m, I’m gonna tell you the tickets for each event, um, go on sale two months before it happens. So the tickets for, um, July 20th went on sale May 20th. The tickets for August 20th are gonna go on sale June 20th. So get online, get your tickets, and hike White Sands by the moonlight. I mean, doesn’t that sound like the most amazing thing to do? I also, um, in all of my searching once again, um, stumbled upon the Visit Gallup site, it’s visit gallup.com, and it reminded me of the podcast that we did last year in April with Bob Lee, who at the time was the executive director of the Gallup Convention Center. And one of the things that he recommend that he said was gonna be a surprise to anybody who had never attended was the Gallup Flea Market, which is held every Saturday in Gallup, New Mexico. And with more than 500 vendors as he told us, it’s, it’s one of the largest Native American markets in the United States. But every Saturday from nine to five at three 40 North ninth Street downtown, you can find, according to Bob Lee and their website now, um, all sorts of, um, artisanal goods, handcrafted items, um, Navajo rugs, Zuni, um, jewelry, um, there’s, there’s just this crazy variety of keepsakes and decor.

Bunny : (08:00)
And then there’s food, which is also, um, also always a treat. Get yourself a, um, fry bread, uh, Indian fry bread, um, and which is fry bread covered in chili and onions and lettuce and tomatoes. Um, but, but because Gallup is surrounded by the Navajo Nation, Zuni Pueblos and Hopi Pueblo land, the market draws vendors and artists from all of those surrounding communities. So don’t forget, if you’re in the western part of the state on a weekend, don’t forget the Gallup flea market. The other thing that’s happening all the time, all every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in Gallup are traditional dances from a variety of, of New Mexico area tribes. There are traditional drum rattle and flute instruments, along with some explanations regarding the cultural tra traditions that surround the dances. So the dance, the, the dances kicked off on June 4th, and they’re happening, as I said, every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday throughout the summer, and they’ll conclude on August 29th, and they’re held at, in the evening at the McKinley County Courthouse, which is at 2 0 7 West Hill Street. And finally, the other huge event that’s happening in Gallup that we talked about when I interviewed Mr. Lee is the hundred and second Gallup Intertribal ceremonial. It’s gonna take place on August 2nd through the 11th. I’m telling you, you should get on their website right now. Take a look at it. This is one of the largest tribal events in the nation, and you’ll, thousands of Native American indigenous participants are gonna come together to share songs, powwow dances, art, food culture. And this is all at Red Rock Park, which is just outside of Gallup. Um, you’ll, there will also be a ceremonial queen pageant, an all open rodeo and a film festival showcasing Native American indigenous storytelling, and then some social events like a wine gala on opening night and a 5K walk and run. There’ll be parades in downtown Gallup per showcasing the variety of tribes that are participating in the event. And this really I mean, Bob Lee did a better job of describing it than I did, but I found it fascinating. Um, this is a celebration that you just can’t miss if you wanna have a really genuine native experience and see something that I don’t think you’re gonna find anywhere else in the country from Gallup, I, I took a look, I went all the way back acro all the way across the Strai Street, the state, excuse me, to my neck of the woods where I grew up, to Tuum Carey, because I thought there’s gotta be something going on. And what I found is that in Tuum Carey, on the fourth Saturday of every month at the historic Railroad Depot, they have what’s called down at the depot. So fourth Saturday. So that means, um, the fourth Saturday in June, July and August, there’ll be live music, food vendors and a maker, what they call a Maker’s Market, and it’s hosted by the Tuum Care Main Street, um, crew.

Bunny : (11:35)
You’ll remember that we had them on the podcast last October when we talked about the tuum scary, um, haunted tours that they were doing around town. If you’re not gonna be in Gallup, and you’re not gonna be in Tuum Carey, but you’re up in the Four Corners area, I’d suggest that, um, the weekend of June 14th through the 16th, you go to the San Juan River balloon rally, it’s gonna be held on the balloon, so I’m sorry, the Bloomfield soccer fields on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And the mass ascension will be at 6:30 AM and on Saturday the 15th, there’s, they’re also gonna have a balloon glow, um, in Farmington. The one of the biggest events in the state that you don’t know about, but is one of the, one of the great sports traditions in New Mexico is the Connie m Royal Series, which is gonna start on July 26th. So since, so this is touted as the finest amateur baseball tournament in the United States. And since 1965, Farmington has been the host of the Connie Mac World Series. If you ever go to Farmington, you’ll find that they built an entire complex devoted to this. And if you talk to locals, they’ll say, oh, yeah, you know, we, what happens during the Connie M World Series is that locals in Farmington, Aztec, and Bloomfield host the teams that are coming to town. So, um, like, you know, my cousin Sherry, who lives in Aztec, she and her husband Jim McGee, have hosted several Connie Mack World Series team players who went on to play in the majors. Um, wish I could remember the names of those guys now. But so, like I said, since 1965, Farmington has been host of the Connie Mac World Series and the Connie Mack World Series. Teams are comprised of players age 16 to 18 from around the United States, and the 12 best teams will go, will compete for the championship, and pro scouts show up, college officials show up. Um, this is one, this is really a big deal. I lived there once when this happened, and I couldn’t believe, um, everybody in the world descends on Farmington for, for that week. And what happens is that, um, pool play will start on July 26th and 27th after a parade in Farmington. And then the opening ceremonies for Bracket play start on the 28th. There is a, um, link to the event in our, um, podcast notes, and I, I, you gotta put it on your calendar, this is one of the funnest things in the world. So I kept searching, I kept looking around, and I found that I, I, you know, I did some searching at the, my favorite places to visit.

Bunny : (14:40)
And Silver City came up because I love to go to Silver City. And when I pulled up their calendar, which is at visitsilvercity.org, I found that there’s live music in Silver City almost every single night of the week. But I wanted to bring one thing to your attention. Um, go to the calendar. If you’re headed to Silver City at all this summer, um, you’ll, you’ll be able to find great music somewhere. But on July 5th, they have the, um, downtowns, silver City Art Associations, art Galleries. They have their First Friday Art Walk, and they have, um, receptions, exhibitions, openings. And if you’ve ever been to downtown Silver City, you know, it’s historic and it’s full of eclectic gallery, so you can check it out@silvercityart.com. So, you know, if you’re looking for something to do on, on the July 4th weekend, go to Silver City, spend July 4th, and then hang around on July 5th for the Art Walk. I was so fascinated by all the music offerings around the state that I knew I had to go back to, um, red River and figure out when their summer music festival is. I’ve attended this before. It’s gone by a lot of different names. Um, it used to be, um, cool Mountain Nights, hot, hot, something else, because there was a Chili Cookoff. Well, now they call it the eighty seven fifty Barbecue and Music Festival, because Red River, which is up in the northeast corner of the state, sits at an elevation of 8,750 feet. So this is, and you gotta get online and get tickets soon because they’re gonna sell out. But this is August 15th to the 17th, and it’s three days of music with Barbecue, red Chili, and Green Chili Cook-offs. And the music lineup includes 23 different artists, like my favorite, one of my favorites, Ray Wiley Hubbard, um, Dale Watson for, um, some of you folks who remember, um, Dale Watson, there’s Mickey in the Motor Cars, the Tejas Brothers, lots of hot country and Americana guest, and the, the festival kicks off with a barbecue dinner and a concert set, Lakeside at Bitter Creek Ranch. And then each night, this is one of the coolest things that happens. You, you’ve been out in the sun all day, you’ve been, um, at Brandenburg Park. Maybe you, uh, have had, have had a Bloody Mary morning at the mother load, but every single night there’s a concert at the Mother Load Saloon and, um, and the dance. So it’s way, way, way fun. Um, the website for this event is the 80 87 50, and those are the numbers, 8 7 5 0 festival.com. So you don’t wanna miss that. Um, there’s a, I mean, look at the lineup. You’re gonna know somebody that’s gonna be there if music is your thing. One of the suggestions I have is the, that you check out, um, Lensic360.org, that’s L-E-N-S-I C3 sixty.org. Um, this is a group that’s based in Santa Fe, but they have concerts and events across New Mexico, um, in, and this is a little past the summer, but on September 13th and 14th, they’re doing a Blossoms and Bones, um, ghost Ranch Music Festival up in Abiquiu. They’ve got artists like, um, Mavis Staples, Lucinda Williams, Vance Joy. Um, this is a big deal, and you can get tickets, Atlin, L-E-N-S-I-C 360, the number three six zero.org. So, um, if you go to that website, you’re gonna see that there are music events all summer long in New Mexico. One of the, one of the ones I’m gonna miss is tomorrow, um, I’m sorry, um, last Friday on June 7th, James McMurtry was in Santa Fe, um, Wednesday, June 12th. Shiny Ribs is gonna be at the mothership at Taos Mesa Brewing. Um, there’s all, all sorts of stuff going on, like Felix elo got those, is gonna be at the mothership at Taos Mesa on June 21st. Lyle Lovett in his large band is gonna be at the Kiva Auditorium on June 22nd. Junior Brown, who is by the way, a Santa Fe guy, he actually went to high school with my husband, junior Brown and Bill Hearn are gonna play on the Santa Fe Plaza on June 27th. So don’t fail. Regardless of where you’re going in New Mexico, get Onlin three sixty.org and check out what, what, where the music is when you’re coming to visit. So now that we’ve talked about events across the state and about music and different things that you can plan to do this summer, I do wanna put one last plugin for one of my favorite activities that, um, is incredibly fun in New Mexico, and that is writing, um, the train. And, um, there are two different places that I know of. If you know of more, I’d love to hear about them. But if you are interested in getting on a narrow gauge train, um, I’d suggest that you go to Chama and Ride the Cuus and Toltech CNY Railway. It’s, it is considered a national historic landmark. It’s a 64 mile train train ride, and it’s considered it, well, it is, it’s not considered, it is the longest, the highest, and the most authentic steam railroad in North America.

Bunny : (20:52)
And it travels through these beautiful spaces. Some of the most spectacular scenery you can find in the Rocky Mountains. So the train is actually owned by New Mexico and Colorado because it leaves chama it. Um, and I’m, I just, I didn’t know this when I read it before, but I saw this on the website. It crosses state borders 11 times, zigzags through canyons. When I read it, we, when I wrote it, we when to the top of the pass and we stopped and had lunch, and then I rode back. So I didn’t go all the way. You could, you leave Chama New Mexico, and if you stay on the train all the way, you end up in Antonino, Colorado. And you can either spend the night in Antonino, um, and catch a bus back or the train back, or, um, you can just ride to the top like I did, um, and come back at the end of the day. It’s really scenic, it’s beautiful. They do. Um, you’re gonna, you’ll see everything. You’ll see deer and antelope, elk, eagles on occasion. Um, I’ve seen on their Instagram page that people have seen bears and the Cuus and Toll Tech Railroad service started on May 25th, will run through October 19th. So it’s six days a week. They don’t run on Mondays, but there are seven different training excursions that you can try and three different classes of service. I it, I gotta tell you, it’s so cool you go over a trestle that is, um, I think, well, I actually, I read this on the website as well, 137 feet, yeah, 137 feet, the Cascade Trestle. Um, this is like every child’s dream ride. Um, they serve you lunch, you, there’s some service that, um, makes it worthwhile. I’ll tell you, when you ride the Cumber and Toll Tech train, um, don’t dress up because, because it’s a steam engine, you get a little bit of soot from the coal, it’s not bad, but you ride with the windows down, it’s, um, so, so the way to get tickets is to go to cumbre toltech do.com, and that’s C-U-M-B-R-E-S-T-O-L-T-E c.com. There will be a link to that in the show notes so that you don’t miss anything. And finally, one of my favorite train rides, and if you’re following me on Instagram, you see me writing Sky Railway all the time. Sky Railway originates at the Santa Fe train depot and goes, um, out towards Lamie on a track that wa that has been there since the middle of the 19th century. In fact, Billy the kid rode that train, that rail coming into town for a trial at one time. Um, sky Railway is, um, my husband calls it a booze cruise, but of course, it’s many things. It’s, we’ve ridden the Flamenco train. We’ve done the Sunset Serenade, where there are two musicians, one in each rail car, um, sometimes also in the Akima train, which is a very fancy 1934, um, oh, I can’t think of the word.

Bunny : (24:26)
I should have this in front of me, but it’s, it’s a, you know, it’s a fancy train car from the thirties where presidents and actors and, um, actresses rode, um, Judy Garland rode this train, um, Walter Brenner, John Wayne. There are, there are, there are all sorts of claims to fame, but now you can ride it and you’re, you’ll get to see scenery that you’re not gonna see otherwise. They have a, um, one went a train that goes at night. So you can a stargazer train. Um, they have a local lore train so you can learn more of the history of the area. And I have never been on Sky Railway when I didn’t either meet new friends, make long life lifelong friends, or run into people that I knew. So I’m recommending some train travel for you this summer, either the Cober and Toll Tech or Sky Railway. And if you have any questions or if you have a summer experience that you’ve had that you wanna share with us, or if you have an event coming up that you want us to talk about the next time we get a chance to let us know, we are here to talk about my bucket list and your bucket list, and I hope you have a wonderful summer. Happy June. Thanks to all of you for taking the time to listen to the I Love New Mexico podcast. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please feel free to share it with your friends on social media or by texting or messaging or emailing them a copy of the podcast. If you have a New Mexico story that you’d like to share with us, don’t hesitate to reach out. Our email address is I love New Mexico blog@gmail.com, and we are always, always looking for interesting stories about New Mexico. Subscribe, share, and write a review so that we can continue to bring you these stories about the Land of Enchantment. Thank you so much. I am back